Offshore drilling company Shelf Drilling has won a contract for the Shelf Drilling Fortress jack-up drilling rig with a European subsidiary of the Chinese oil company CNOOC in the UK North Sea.
Under the contract, the rig, owned by Shelf Drilling's subsidiary Shelf Drilling North Sea, will operate at the Golden Eagle platform in the UK Central North Sea.
The firm term of the contract is two wells, which are expected to take between four and five months to complete.
The contract value for the firm period is approximately $17 million.
The contract also includes options for more wells, which could add 13 more months to the contract. The Shelf Drilling Fortress is expected to start operations under the CNOOC contract in September 2023.
The Shelf Drilling Fortress drilling rig was previously known as Noble Sam Hartley.
In October 2022, Shelf Drilling bought five jack-up drilling rigs Noble Hans Deul, Noble Sam Hartley, Noble Sam Turner, Noble Houston Colbert, and Noble Lloyd Noble, from Noble Corporation for $375 million.
Noble Corporation had to sell the five rigs to alleviate competition concerns in the UK in relation to its merger with Maersk Drilling.
